Medical marijuana law overdue in New Hampshire

New Hampshire is very likely to become the 19th state to allow citizens suffering from pain and illness to responsibly use medical marijuana, and to this we say: It's about time.

Last year, the New Hampshire House and Senate passed a limited medical marijuana law by wide margins. It was then vetoed by Gov. John Lynch and an override attempt failed.

Today, Gov. Lynch has been replaced by Gov. Maggie Hassan, who supports medical marijuana and even voted to override a Lynch veto when she was a state senator.

The question now is not whether New Hampshire will legalize medical marijuana but rather when the state will allow it and what the rules and regulations will be.

Last year's Senate Bill 409 empowered doctors and registered nurses to authorize seriously ill patients to grow up to four mature marijuana plants for their own medicinal use. Patients would not be allowed to sell the pot they grow and could never be in possession of more than six ounces at a time. The bill also prohibited public use of marijuana and driving under its influence. This year's legislative proposals also include five highly regulated dispensaries, which would be useful to those who, for any number of reasons, cannot grow their own marijuana.

While we strongly support use of marijuana for medicinal purposes, the Herald editorial board has not yet debated or taken a position of legalizing it entirely. And full legalization does not inevitably follow legalization for medical uses. Maine has allowed medical marijuana since 1999, and in 2009 the Pine Tree State passed a law allowing dispensaries, and yet full legalization is not likely anytime soon.

And Granite Staters nervous about medical marijuana can look across the river and see that allowing sick people to relieve their pain and maintain their appetites through marijuana use did not turn Mainers into 1970s stoners Cheech and Chong.